The Florida Supreme Court is ordering a new sentence for a man involved in the deadly kidnapping of a young couple from South Beach.
The court on Thursday upheld the conviction of 39-year-old Joel Lebron, but tossed out his death sentence.
In 2002, 17-year-old Nelson Portobanco and 18-year-old Ana Maria Angel were walking back to their car after a date in South Beach when they were forced into a pickup by Lebron and four other men.
Lebron stabbed Portobanco and left him for dead, but the teen survived. Angel was repeatedly raped and taken to a retaining wall beside Interstate 95 where Lebron killed her with a single gunshot.
A jury recommended the death penalty by a 9 to 3 vote.